Workers from PPL Electric Utilities and Sumter Utilities Inc., out of South Carolina, talk over a strategy for fixing a line on Nov. 2 that was damaged on Decatur Street in Bethlehem after Superstorm Sandy brought high winds through the area causing massive power outages. Express-Times File Photo

PPL Electric Utilities and its sister utilities in Kentucky are sending 100 employees and equipment to New Jersey and New York in an effort to restore power there 11 days after Superstorm Sandy left the area.

PPL has also released 75 contractors to join that effort, the Allentown-based utility said this morning in a news release.

“We were fortunate to receive significant assistance from utilities in other states to help restore service more quickly to our customers affected by Sandy,” Gregory Dudkin, president of PPL Electric Utilities, said in a news release. “We’re pleased our dedicated employees and contractors are able to pitch in and do what we can for our neighboring utilities and their customers.”

Workers from Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities were released Thursday morning from Pennsylvania duty, and PPL workers and contractors were allowed to go today, the release said. The contractors usually work full time for PPL on infrastructure improvement projects, the release said.

More than 500,000 of PPL's 1.4 million customers were affected by the storm -- including nearly 120,000 in Lehigh County and more than 60,000 in Northampton County, the company said.

PPL today has 146 customers out in Lehigh County and 49 out in Northampton County.

It was the worst storm in company history but most of its customers had power within several days of the initial outages, PPL said.